Contrary to wingnut whinging, President Obama is perfectly willing to speak to Speaker Boehner: He’s just not going to negotiate policy under the threat of government shutdown or default. Good.
President Barack Obama called Speaker John Boehner, R-Ohio, on Tuesday to again tell the top House Republican that he wouldn’t negotiate over reopening the government or raising the nation’s debt ceiling.
And, keeping up his pressure on Republicans in Congress, Obama will marshal the power of the bully pulpit during a 2 p.m. press conference at the White House.
Here’s a link to live coverage of the statement and presser.
ETA: Presser concluded. From this day forward, October 8th shall be known as National Pony Day in honor of President Obama’s stellar performance. Well, I’ll observe NPD, anyway. It was a tonic for any liberal who longed to see the Tea Party loons get kicked in the junk repeatedly. I’ll post a video and transcript when I can find one.
ETA: Transcript and video via WaPo here. Watch it and rejoice!
max
Thanks, hon! I almost missed the start. (Because I would’ve have had to waste time finding a link that worked.)
max
[‘Heads! On pikes!’]
J.Ty
Oh no, he’s going to use the bully pulpit? How shrill!
piratedan
Lots of “what we have to look for” comprised solely of is the White House modifying their position bullshit and zero conversation as to why what the R’s is doing is wrong and why aren’t they modifying their position…. fuck the msm with a rusty pitchfork
Tone in DC
Hopefully, there won’t be g00per whinging later about how BHO shoved the clean CR bill/package down the House’s throat.
Corner Stone
Did I just imagine Luke Russert going postal on the GOP on live MSNBC TV??
Cassidy
Oh geez. Will he be worse than Bush after this? He’s just a big swingin’ dick looking for a Nobel? That was the FP meme three
Weeks ago. My how times have changed.
Alexandra
Too early for drinking games? One shot for every time he says ‘Republican’.
Corner Stone
My God. Seventeen service people have been killed in Afghanistan since Oct 1st?
mericafukyea
Speaking of wingnut whining, we seem to be overdue for another Libertarian curious wr0ng way Cole installment of “Greenwald is dreamy….Rand Paul has some good ideas” post.
dmsilev
@Tone in DC:
Oh, I hope there will be whining.
bobbo
At long last, the bully pulpit! We are saved!
dmsilev
@Alexandra: ‘One drink for every drink John Boehner takes’.
Liver poisoning in two hours flat.
Seanly
I’m scared he’s gonna fold…
I also don’t want more f*cking austerity. We need to be spending more money!
Corner Stone
@J.Ty:
I, for one, welcome our new shrill overlords.
Hill Dweller
The WH feed is always up early. Right now Todd, Henry, Karl and Garrett are standing up facing their respective network camera. Are they the best political reporters the country has to offer?
Tone in DC
@piratedan:
That is positively Cole-like of you.
The level of disinformation flying around Humidity Central these last few weeks has been truly Orwellian. The M$M has made me watch post-season baseball to avoid shit like this coverage.
And I fucking hate baseball when the Nats and the Orioles aren’t involved.
Cassidy
@bobbo: It’s magical. Tonight Cole and Mix will give each other mutual handjobs and eagerly sit at the road waiting for the USPS to deliver their unicorns.
Corner Stone
@Seanly:
I doubt that. Although the questions that will come after his statement may actually make him take his tie off and start strangling some mofo’s.
shortstop
@Hill Dweller: If only an extremely targeted drone…but no. That would be wrong.
dmsilev
@Hill Dweller:
Yes.
Weep for our country.
Keith P.
@J.Ty: The power of the jawbone!
? Martin
@Seanly:
He’s not going to fold. Neither will Reid.
Belafon
@mericafukyea: We might have been due a post like yours but it didn’t mean you had to write one.
amk
@mericafukyea: SYRIA… There is always syria.
Tone in DC
@dmsilev:
Dude, whinging is MUCH worse than whining.
Not that these g00pers won’t do some of both, actually.
Corner Stone
@Hill Dweller: You missed Todd and Henry joshing each other amiably. I thought they were going to start french kissing at any moment.
dmsilev
@Corner Stone: If he rips his shirt off, turns green, swells up enormously in size, and starts smashing White House Press Corps members, well I for one will start petitioning that he be allowed to run for a third term.
? Martin
@Hill Dweller:
Given the law of the infallibility of the free market, the answer is obviously ‘yes’.
EdTheRed
Ooh, the Pres. is taking questions this time…
amk
@Hill Dweller: Be glad it’s not whiny wolf and ms greenspan.
Corner Stone
Wow. Some strong language to start! Ransom, house burning, gun to the head, dogs and cats living together.
Anoniminous
@Seanly:
Not going to happen.
Betty Cracker
Yay! He’s hitting the ransom and recent election nullification themes hard!
scav
@dmsilev: seconded. And a youtube or animated gif of that would meltdown the interweb by my efforts alone.
Roger Moore
@Tone in DC:
The Republicans are always worried about the black man shoving his package down their throats. It’s almost as if they’re fascinated by interracial gay pron or something.
Belafon
@Seanly: Why? Right now he’s doing exactly what he needs to do: Get in front of the camera and say “The Republicans are holding the country hostage because they don’t like Democracy.” He should be doing this every day.
catclub
@? Martin: Well, they have already folded by accepting the post sequester budget. But because they have done that, there is no further folding available.
Elizabelle
“Give me an XBox.”
“[Do what I want] or I’ll burn down your house.”
That’s about the level of it. Hope that makes it to the Daily Show and Colbert tonight.
Do you think he said that with that in mind?
? Martin
@Corner Stone: And the govt won’t be flying the families in when the bodies are returned because Boehner doesn’t have his unicorn yet.
dmsilev
@EdTheRed: Right now, reiterating that ‘do your damn job already’ is not a concession, it’s a basic requirement.
Seanly
@Corner Stone:
Now that I would like to see!
EDIT: I’m scared he’ll fold because he hasn’t shown much acumen to the art of negotiating. There’s no wiggle room on the budget because the Democratic position is actually less than the horrible, horrible Ryan crapbudget.
Corner Stone
@dmsilev: I’d be happy with a little Jason Bourne, and him start beating people with a rolled up magazine or other impromptu implement.
Anoniminous
Slightly O/T:
Michele Bachmann Blames Shutdown on President’s Obamacare Tweets.
?
Elizabelle
“20 times since March
… so we’ve been talkin all kinds of business
… what we haven’t been getting from Republicans was serious positions (so we could negotiate)”
I hope that gets through the rightwing noise wurlitzer. And that this gets reported fairly on the nightly news and elsewhere.
? Martin
@catclub: It’s pro-forma in a CR to adopt the prior budget. The budget passed by the Senate undoes the sequester. We’ll see what we get in the proper budget – assuming they work out a 2014 budget before the 2015 one starts.
Corner Stone
I wonder if we’re going to see Luke Russert live on air again.
He completely torched the GOP a few minutes ago on Tamron’s show.
dmsilev
Pointing out that the House and Senate passed budgets, and the Republicans rejected, 19 times, attempts to go to conference committee.
“Entire basis of Republican party is to shut down the government unless they get 100% of what they want”
scav
@Corner Stone: Or what about Doctor 9 telling gasmaskboy to Go. To. Your. Room!
Elizabelle
@Corner Stone:
Please put up a Luke Russert link to that when it’s up. That’s a Luke Russert I would like to see.
Corner Stone
“Stop all the excusifying fool!”
dmsilev
Now pointing out that Republican morons who are saying that defaulting is no big deal are, well, morons.
Belafon
@Anoniminous: Actually, she’s claiming that the president wrote a new law by tweeting it.
Betty Cracker
He’s explaining the nature of the debt ceiling as if to a four-year-old, which is clearly what’s needed. He also cited the “Tea Party Republicans'” role in the credit rating downgrade…
Corner Stone
@Elizabelle: I don’t even know what to say about it. There was nothing “both sides” about it.
He plain called out the GOP for shutting the govt down.
Anya
@Anoniminous: WTF! Is there a wingnut translator in the house?
dmsilev
“It does not increase our debt. It does not increase our deficit”
Worst Dr. Seuss story ever.
Corner Stone
“Agree to the price I want to pay for your house. Or I will burn it down.”
piratedan
@Anoniminous: off her meds again…. strangely enough, I believe that its covered under Obamacare
Soonergrunt
@Corner Stone: what did he say?
dexwood
@Corner Stone:
The son of a friend was killed in September. He had been wounded in an ambush in August. Spent a week in the hospital, released and returned to his Special Forces unit. He had a month left to go on his second tour of the country.
Elizabelle
@Betty Cracker:
Yeah, I like that he’s pretty much sticking to “words of one syllable”, as my dad used to say.
It’s “Reality 101 for Morons and Washington Journalists” (but I repeat myself)
Corner Stone
I hope Obama never, ever mentions the name Ted Cruz in any way.
Don’t give that walking punchbagface douchecanoe any recognition.
Bill E Pilgrim
@dmsilev: made me laugh
dmsilev
@Betty Cracker:
I’m not completely sure about that. Based on the recent “I must be RESPECTED” wails from various Republicans, I think they’ve outgrown toddlerhood and moved straight to ‘rebellious teenager’. Do you think we should tell them that OK, they can get that tattoo, and that might shut them up?
Citizen_X
@Anoniminous: Forget it, Jake. It’s Michele Bachmann.
scav
Go To Your Room clip
And if Obama tweeted a law, is it really under 140 char (still too long for her to manage reading it all)?
Roger Moore
@Keith P.:
But when Boehner does it, he uses the jawbone of an ass, and we all know what you can do with one of those.
Tommy
@Elizabelle: I don’t have a link but he kind of lost it on TV. I’ve watched it like five times on my DVR. He spoke the truth. Andrea Mitchel, which I never viewed as a liberal almost couldn’t contain herself.
Betty Cracker
Damn, I hope everyone is watching this.
Corner Stone
@Soonergrunt: Essentially, Tamron hall asked about the death benefit for military families and he said, in sum:
“Let’s be clear. The govt is shutdown and the families are not getting what they have coming to them because THE GOP HAS SHUT THE GOVT DOWN! Make no mistake, the GOP HAS DONE THIS over a HEALTHCARE LAW!”
Anoniminous
@Belafon:
I know what she said.
The “?” was an expression of my astonishment at her massive, overwhelming, mind-breaking stupidity in saying it. On TV. Out in front of God & Everyone.
Elizabelle
Obama’s presser is on all the local channels in DC area, including the Fox affiliate.
Lot of locals interested in what he has to say.
Jockey Full of Malbec
@Betty Cracker:
Can anyone give a summary for those of us nestled safely behind our corporate firewalls?
(Praise the Company!)
Betty Cracker
“Stop forcing John Boehner to make threats” — ooooh, snap.
Corner Stone
Nice tie in to the Asia Summits and jobs/credibility.
shortstop
@Anya: Stewardess, I speak wingnut! Congresswoman Bachmann is merely pointing out that the microchip implanted in her butt by the dusky al Qaeda-loving tyrant has the unintentional but lucky side effect of enabling her to decode the true meaning of Obama’s tweets. These were heretofore only visible to the band of conspiracists charged with setting up death panels. Not coincidentally, the Venn overlap on these people and the brigade of homofascists who are planning to implement forced gay marriages is significant.
Betty Cracker
@Jockey Full of Malbec: I’ll post a transcript as soon as I can find one.
Elizabelle
I have not heard PBO say anything that can get twisted around. Simple language, simple declarative sentences.
Wait to see what the press buffoons come up with.
raven
@Jockey Full of Malbec: republicans suck donkey dicks
Elizabelle
Look how serious Jonathan Karl appears.
I cannot watch ABC news, for his remaining employed by them.
Soonergrunt
@Corner Stone: Wow. His dad is spinning in his grave.
IowaOldLady
@scav: I thought Twitter gave the Prez extra characters. Red State told me that.
Also, Michele Bachmann is crazy.
dmsilev
“We’re not going to pay a ransom in order to pay America’s bills”. Period.
Elizabelle
@dexwood:
So sorry to hear that.
Elizabelle
“Let’s take default out for a spin and see how it rides.”
Great line!
Elizabelle
Bloomberg of course asks if bondholders will get paid ahead of social security and military, in event of a default.
Corner Stone
@dexwood: I try to stay more aware of this issue than what, IMO, the general public is. But, I completely failed to understand we have lost 17 men and women in Afghanistan in the last week.
It seems mindblowing and just unfathomable somehow.
Mandalay
@catclub:
I don’t think Republicans share your point of view; we could abolish foreign aid, close the departments of Commerce and Education, get rid of corporation tax, etc…
And although they still see plenty of folding potential, they will be willing to compromise. For example, if the Department of Education is closed then the Department of Commerce can stay open. As long as both sides are left hurting a little bit then you know it must have been a good deal.
Elizabelle
@Corner Stone:
I did not know that either.
Tommy
I am a litlle behind on my DVR but Obama just said it. The world looks at us and if we want to say we are the greatest country we need to act like it. We don’t have our shit together. The rest of the world can see that.
dmsilev
President Obama promises to do some afterschool tutoring of individual Congressmorons about why default is stupid. Wonder what his hourly tutoring rate is.
raven
@Corner Stone: citation
? Martin
@Corner Stone: It wasn’t worth the media’s time to report before the shutdown, it certainly isn’t worth their time to report after.
But did you hear that Miley Cyrus did something stupid? It was on all of the news.
Corner Stone
Ohhhh, SNAP! Nice turn of phrase!
“The president is so responsible, we’ll just hold our breath until he gives us what we want.”
dexwood
@Elizabelle: Thank you. I didn’t know the young man, but his father is one helluva good guy. So much pain all around.
scav
@IowaOldLady: binderfulls of legal verbiage in a single tweet. Those are some thumbs on our President.
Jockey Full of Malbec
@Betty Cracker:
Awesome… thank you.
dexwood
@Corner Stone:
You aren’t alone. It’s become unimportant because… well see Martin at #93.
Corner Stone
@raven: Ahh, not *just* in Afghanistan, my mistake.
“Seventeen service members have died since the government shut down Oct. 1, a senior defense official said, including six in Afghanistan. None of the families of the 17 received the death gratuity.”
NBC News
Tommy
@Corner Stone: I didn’t know that either and I like you try to follow this. I mean try hard. I am a military brat. Only person in my family that has not served.Not sure how I didn’t realize this.
raven
@Corner Stone: Thanks
raven
@Tommy: It might be because it is not the case.
Bill E Pilgrim
@Jockey Full of Malbec:
On a chilly fall day
up there on my TV
Obama was talking
in a place called DC
He explained to the people
that the wingnuts were lying
and spinning and sliming
with the orange one crying
About how our debt
is important to stop
(despite that it’s been
on a long, steady drop)
“We must wreck the whole country
to stop it!” they’re saying
but if they do that, then
we better start praying
Oh sorry got carried away, inspired by the post above. That is kind of it though.
Elizabelle
Mai Naem’s comment earlier about the credible right of center radio host who thinks Republicans will catch up in the messaging by 2014 elections:
I am not so sure. I think this is the Republicans’ Waterloo.
They’ve been shown to be ignorant and reckless. They are hurting people. They don’t get it.
nemesis
Insert knife. Twist. Repeat hourly.
Elizabelle
Jack Lew has already been using emergency powers, but there’s a limit to how long he can do that.
Sobering.
Corner Stone
@raven: Not true that 17 died, or my mistake of understanding it was not just confined to only Afghanistan?
Because I’m pretty sure the other 11 outside of Afghanistan are just as dead since Oct 1.
Elizabelle
“If you’re buying a house, and you’re not sure the seller has title to the house …”
Brilliant. Have to reduce it to those terms.
Elizabelle
“At minimum, let every Member of Congress be on record. …. Let them vote on whether America should pay its bills or not.”
later paraphrase: And if there are people who think it’s no big deal, that’s useful information for voters to have.
burnspbesq
@mericafukyea:
I think there is reason to hope that we will be spared for a while, after Greenie revealed his true self on live teevee for all the world to see.
Elizabelle
Now a question about Citizens United type case facing Supreme Court this term.
Soonergrunt
@Corner Stone: primarily through motor vehicle accidents and suicides. Just like their civilian age cohort.
But you are right. Dead is dead. And the Death Gratuity should be paid and isn’t.
Corner Stone
Wow. He is smashing the GOP for being scaredy cats in the face of Tea Party primary challenges! Just calling them out, and the media, on this!
Mandalay
Obama is dishing it out to the Tea Party and rich people with their own agendas right now. He’s not waffling. Great stuff,
http://www.c-span.org/Live-Video/C-SPAN/
Rob in CT
Based solely on the commentary here, I’m happy with this presser. I guess we’ll see how effective that bully pulpit is, huh (though perhaps he needs to keep it up, day after day)?
raven
@Corner Stone: Afghanistan.
eta People die in the military. The KIA count in the Korean War counts everyone that died on duty wherever it happened. If 17 service people had died in Afghanistan in a week it would have been pretty big news.
dmsilev
@Rob in CT: He’s doing pretty well; explaining in clear terms why the Republicans are being unreasonable and are tempting disaster and also why he shouldn’t be giving them anything.
FlipYrWhig
@Corner Stone: BTW, thanks for the live-blogging.
Seanly
Glad to hear that my fears weren’t warranted.
Tommy
@burnspbesq: Against my better judgement I followed both your links and watched each video. Makes me think he is more right.
Elizabelle
PBO just brought up gerrymandering. On the heels of politicians more beholden to their campaign funding stream than their constituents.
Gerrymandering is a topic that needs to come to the forefront.
I like California’s drawing lines by citizen commission, and the idea of having the top two votegetters from the primaries contest each other in the general. Could be two Dems or two GOP up in the final. (Is California actually doing that now? Don’t remember.)
Got to stop letting these crazies through in the primary. (Although not having a primary, and getting Cooch via nutjob GOP state convention, might get Terry McAuliffe across the finish line in Virginia. He’d be having a tougher race against the GOP sitting lt. governor, who’s not such a whackaloon, or implicated in the Star Scientific corruption case — as are Cooch and governor Transvaginal Bob McDonnell.)
Amir Khalid
@burnspbesq:
Link is bad. Please to fix?
ranchandsyrup
Oh Rand Paul, you are unintentionally hilarious:
Senator Rand Paul @SenRandPaul
Reid: If you want us to negotiate, you must first give us everything we want. Sorry @SenatorReid that’s not how a negotiation works…
Elizabelle
I love that PBO has not called on a whackaloon yet.
Anya
@shortstop: thanks for the translation. I hope Obamacare covers her condition.
Goblue72
@Elizabelle: it’s why California now has a 2/3 Democratic majority in both state senate and state assembly.
Corner Stone
@raven: Ok, I apologize. Almost one service member a day has died in Afghanistan since the Oct 1 shutdown.
The other 11 died elsewhere, doing various things.
That’s more accurate to the reporting so far on defenseone.com and the one I linked at NBC.
Mandalay
@burnspbesq: Completely OT….The Administration is defending the kidnapping/capture of an Al Qaeda operative in Libya as “legal”. IANAL, but assume that there is some basis for that claim, but it seems strange to me. Was his capture “legal”? If so, could another nation kidnap/capture (say) Cheney or Rumsfeld, and then claim that it was legal?
Elizabelle
@Goblue72:
Yeah, I love that. I used to live in California. Want to move back one of these days. Beautiful state.
raven
@Corner Stone: I wasn’t looking for an apology, I just wondered. I have a tendency to follow this stuff fairly closely and it was a surprise to me.
cckids
@Bill E Pilgrim: Very nice, especially on short notice.
Corner Stone
@raven: Six died in two days, four in one day. I didn’t see any notice of it until now, and I try to keep that in mind.
Sorry I misread some subtitles on the TV. Jesus fucking Christ.
scav
OT, But SD and environs is getting that little example of what govt does by govt not not doing it karma. Record Blizzard Kills South Dakota Cattle, Government Shutdown Will Slow Aid (NYT).
Interesting sidelight in that Silvia Christen (executive director of the South Dakota Stockgrowers Association) explicitly says the FSA desperately wants to help. Doesn’t sound like govt hatred, employee blaming/shaming has entirely caught on. Well, atheists in foxholes, fed govt is too biggers in the midst of a disaster area. . .
? Martin
@Elizabelle:
Yes. Those were in place for the 2012 election. A number of districts had Dem/Dem, GOP/GOP elections. A bit too early to tell if it gets us fewer bomb-throwers, though Dems picked up seats. So many people’s districts changed that we’ll need 2014 to see whether the new rules really impact incumbency.
There were some weak points to the commission redistricting but by and large I think most people found it to be fair and much improved.
Mandalay
@Corner Stone:
Yep. He’s shit-kicking the snot out of everyone who is fucking the country up.
Clearly enjoying himself, and in complete control of the stenographers.
raven
@Corner Stone: What the fuck is your problem? I just asked where you got the information. You act like I said “hey you stupid motherfucker, why are you spreading this bullshit”?
MCA1
All I can say is, thank FSM we have an adult in the White House right now. Every American should turn off the CNN, read the transcript of this presser, and then read the statements being made daily by Boehner and McConnell and whomever else. Pres’s approval ratings would skyrocket, Repubs’ would plummet, and we’d go get some shit done in this country.
The fact that he needs to explain the basic underlying political forces for the media and chide them for not explaining the same in their reports to the voting public, on the other hand, is possibly the single biggest indictment of our modern American system of democracy. Total media failure.
Kay
@Elizabelle:
I don’t know how politically potent it is, but the “precedent” argument is powerful. If he allows this, a minority can essentially veto any law they choose. Not stop a law on the way to passage. Overturn an existing law.
They chose one that was recently enacted, but there’s nothing stopping anyone who comes after from simply picking any law at all.
People should be scared of that. Everyone. All people.
I think they were incorrectly describing the health care law as a “bill” for that reason. There’s nothing special about this law. A lot of it HAS gone in, and is actually operating.
The Fat Kate Middleton
“…and Democrats don’t give anything. And that’s dubbed as compromise.”
Priceless.
cckids
@raven:
Sadly, given our current state of press/media, I doubt this. Rachel Maddow is the only media person I know of who regularly reminds the public that we are still involved in a war.
Corner Stone
I missed a chunk of what Obama just said but it seemed like he was saying, “Hey, compromise isn’t Democrats giving the R’s everything they want because the D’s want to keep the govt working.”
Elizabelle
Deaths Sunday in Afghanistan: four US servicemembers dead:
Lt. Moreno’s brother, Ivan, also serves in the Army.
Anya
Thanks for the live blog, guys. Very useful for those of us who can’t watch the presser.
Corner Stone
@raven: Dawgs suck!
Betty Cracker
I had to leave for a bit to deal with a repair crew, and he’s still tearing the Republicans a new one! We should declare October 8th National Pony Day.
burnspbesq
@Amir Khalid:
Try this. If it still doesn’t work, just go to Little Green Footballs and scroll down. there are two Greenie-related pieces on the front page. This is the earlier (i.e., farther down the page).
http://littlegreenfootballs.com/article/42590_Video-_Glenn_Greenwald_Is_Grilled_on_BBC_Newsnight_Spews_Insults_Like_a_Firehose
Elizabelle
Chyron on MSNBC:
Maybe some are waking up to the seriousness of our situation?
scav
@Anya: There’s also the Guardian live blog if you can get to it. more quotes, but they do sometimes miss the especially american subtext.
Corner Stone
The president saying he’s happy to go line by line through the ACA with R’s doesn’t make me feel very good.
I know he has to say that at this point, but I hope it’s just a talking point.
The Fat Kate Middleton
Oh, my. Now he’s kicking it. “Sure, we can talk … and we can help Americans who need help. But why do we have to shut down the government to talk? Why can’t we open up the government … and talk, and do the work we need to do … while we’re talking?”
The Fat Kate Middleton
Oh, my. Now he’s kicking it. “Sure, we can talk … and we can help Americans who need help. But why do we have to shut down the government to talk? Why can’t we open up the government … and talk, and do the work we need to do … while we’re talking?”
Mandalay
Obama just now: “I won’t let them [GOP] gut a law that lets tens of millions of people get health care, but I’m happy to talk to them.”
I’m sorely tempted to bet a chunk on the Dow bouncing back up. Obama ain’t folding.
Kay
Are other people having trouble closing on a home loan with the shutdown, or is that just the one person I talked to?
I haven’t seen anything about that.
Elizabelle
@Kay:
Yes. And perhaps he should deal more at length on that in his next statement, in “Cat in the Hat” language, if that’s what it takes.
The precedent that the GOP is trying to set is horrifying.
IowaOldLady
He’s really good at this. Maybe having something other than talking points on your side helps in this setting.
The Fat Kate Middleton
Hmm. That’s a first. I did NOT hit the submit button twice. Hit it once, and the two posts came up together.
raven
Now he’s explaining why no separate bills.
MCA1
@Corner Stone: I kind of agree. He did say “I’m not going to gut a law that provides insurance to tens of millions of people,” though. I wished he’d added at the end “but, you know what? We’re going to add some things that Democrats would like to talk about to that list of issues that are on the table, too.” With a few examples.
Amir Khalid
@burnspbesq:
Es geht nicht. For some reason I can’t get into LGF at all — 403 Forbidden error.
Anya
@scav: thanks, scav!
Elizabelle
CBS Mark Knoller:
why can’t you sign the bills to fund the stuff Republicans will agree to let you fund?
PBO: If you do a shotgun approach like that {you’ll end up funding national monuments but not SBA loans}
burnspbesq
@Mandalay:
Haven’t looked at it. There are multiple posts at Lawfare and Just Security, and those folks know their shit.
Frankly I was impressed that our guys backed out of the situation in Somalia when they discovered an unacceptably high risk of civilian casualties. That’s the way this is supposed to work. Of course, every bad guy in the world now knows that he is invincible if he surrounds himself with little kids, but we’ll get that guy eventually.
NonyNony
@scav:
Cattle ranchers have a love/hate relationship with the Federales. On the one hand, there’s the fact that the myth of the cattle rancher is the cowboy with a herd of cattle out on his own under the wide open skies on a giant plot of barely arable scrubland in the American West.
On the other hand – there’s the reality that the cattle rancher is a guy who is trying to raise a herd of cattle on a giant plot of barely arable scrubland in the American West.
Cattle ranchers out West basically live and die via Federal insurance, Federal money, and Federal land usage. I’m sure there were plenty of idjit ranchers who were screaming Tea Party slogans about shutting down the government, but few of them were probably working as lobbyists…
Corner Stone
@Amir Khalid: You’re better off for it.
scav
@Kay: Saw it mentioned as a probable consequence. NYT
ETA also seems to be consequences with low income loans involving Federal Housing Admin.
Elizabelle
Good last question, about GOP dynamics after 2011 and the last round of debt ceiling talks. What could he have done better?
Kay
@Elizabelle:
I really get concerned when they go after what I consider the structure. This could be really profound!
“The health care law” isn’t different than any other law. It’s no less a law because it’s newer.
I felt the same way when they abused impeachment, and I think I was right. I thought “oh, now this is ruined and useless and people will throw it around and cheapen it” and they have. I think Obama has been threatened with impeachment 5 times.
You know, it’s sort of a break glass process, impeachment. Once you turn it into a pile of talking points and bullshit, you’re not getting it back. It’s gone.
FlipYrWhig
@Corner Stone: but that’s what he always says: “I’ll gladly sign onto good ideas that improve the law regardless of where those ideas come from.” That makes the complaints have to rise to the level of “what would you rather do to fix Problem X?” as opposed to “TYRRANY PATRIOTS DONT TREAD WOLVERINES!”
Jockey Full of Malbec
@Bill E Pilgrim:
Nice.
How about haiku?
Obama presser:
“Congress wants to destroy us!”
(Jesus is Laughing).
…or a limerick…
There once was a Party of Tea
That set all ablaze with such glee
But amidst all the drama,
A man named Obama
Tried his best to be Lincoln… for free.
burnspbesq
@Amir Khalid:
It was a BBC program (“Newsnight,” last Friday I think). You might have luck finding it there.
raven
Wow, 60 minute man!
Another Holocene Human
@dmsilev: That sounded oddly erotic.
shortstop
@Betty Cracker: I know! I closed it to interview two JAGs, pulled it back up and he was still answering questions. And you know how long JAGs can go on, not that they weren’t fascinating.
The Fat Kate Middleton
Excellent presser. He said what had to be said, said it clearly, and said it over and over.
cckids
@Kay:
I agree. I think it is one of the reasons Pelosi never went after Duhbya with the big “I”. It was so nakedly political over Clinton, and so many of the barely informed would have just seen it as “more of the same”.
Plus, as a country, we were hip deep in shit and sinking, and spending time & effort on Bush might have been the last straw.
Kay
@scav:
My son and his GF are buying an apartment in Chicago. it was really a lot of fun. I looked online with them when they were shopping, then I followed the negotiation process, and they told me last night they’re slowed down on closing because of the shut down. It sucks, because it’s their first time buying and they are nervous wrecks.
raven
Snotty bitch SE Cupp is off the rails about this radial prez!
Corner Stone
@FlipYrWhig: No, I know. It was more the possibility that he would actually spend “as many hours as they want” going through the ACA that worried me. A kind of coup by clock if they could jam the works by forcing conference after conference on just that one law.
Corner Stone
Luke Russert Lives!!
Elizabelle
@Kay:
I think the WaPost might have written on the shutdown and real estate impact, but couldn’t find it in a half-assed search …
elmo
@Kay:
That’s what I was talking about the other day, that this is a test run. Next time it’ll be the EPA that they want shut down, or the Dept of Labor, or the NLRB.
Elizabelle
@Corner Stone:
And he can’t pronounce prerequisite.
Jockey Full of Malbec
@Elizabelle:
If we’re very, very lucky, it’s the Koch Bros. and their ilk, covering their shorts (e.g. their stock puts) before they give Boehner the signal that it’s ok to pass a clean CR.
ETA: Changed wording to fix inadvertent gross image of Koch Bros. underwear (which may or may not be magical).
Corner Stone
@shortstop: I’m pretty sure there is a “JAG off” joke here…but
IowaOldLady
@raven: Is her voice rising? They always get shrill when they’re losing.
Corner Stone
@Elizabelle: No, but he went back again on the anti GOP talking point BS.
Unbelievable. I thought they’d have his pod re-initiated during the presser.
MomSense
@raven:
If you don’t believe I’m all that I say
raven
@IowaOldLady: I had to turn it off.
Mandalay
@burnspbesq: OT: Thx – I like the Lawfare site.
Interesting that the Somali government is much more tolerant of the US actions than Libya…
The progress made in Somalia in the past few years has been incredible. It has gone from being the most failed country on earth to one with a future.
Suffern ACE
@raven: Yep. He’s extremist. “The overwhelming majority of the people want….” She is pissed that he brought up specific examples. Yes, the majority of the American people insist on spending cuts. They don’t actually want any cuts to their programs.
scav
@Kay: Ouch, sorry for them. It’s an interesting city — I hope it works out for them and soon.
? Martin
One hour, eh. That’s the real power of the bully pulpit. It’ll take Boehner two weeks to command an hour on every network. It’s simply impossible to out-message the President when the President takes full advantage of the power of the office. Boehner doesn’t even have the time to refuse the President’s claims, even if had a good message to refute them. And this hour chokes out whatever network time might have been available to Boehner.
And Obama can show up tomorrow and do it all over again. And he should. Just choke out the GOPs media time.
eric
@Kay: where in our lovely city are they seeking to purchase?
Another Holocene Human
@Elizabelle: Don’t these people glorify armed robbers, highwaymen, burglars, terrorists already? The lone white guy with his superior intellect blowing up the city he can’t own and no-one else can, in a doom showdown against the plodding black cop who just wants to go home to his wife and daughters but gets drawn in one last time to save the sheeple in the subway train/office building?
ETA: Freud called this the death-drive?
Betty Cracker
@Corner Stone: Maybe CJ forgot to take down the MuslimShield911 after he regained his sanity. I believe in sincere conversions — hell, our own Cole is proof it can happen. But I haven’t forgotten what a hive of racist scum and religious bigotry that site was. For fucking years too. I prefer to look elsewhere for my Greenwald vilification material.
Suffern ACE
Larry Kudlow, sticking to the “We have plenty of money. There won’t be a default” position. Yep. Please follow this man’s investment advice.
Mandalay
@Elizabelle:
Good. I’ve just bet a heap on the Dow going up after watching Obama’s performance. It’s a really dumb approach to do emotional investing, but he’s just persuaded me that the worst is over, he’s not buckling, and the Koch bros, the Tea Party and the GOP are in for a sustained shit-kicking.
karen marie
@Elizabelle: Ugh. He’s a blight. Don’t encourage his employment.
karen marie
@Elizabelle: Ugh. He’s a blight. Don’t encourage his employment.
? Martin
@Corner Stone: Don’t worry about it. That’s sort of what my House GOP correspondence revealed – they don’t want to go through the bill line by line because they have no better ideas. They don’t dislike ACA because of what it does or even how it does it. They dislike it because they ceded all credit for it to Obama and they know it’s going to be popular. It’s acknowledgement of a mistake made in 2009 – they made a calculation to fight it tooth and nail thanks to the Tea Party and as much as the GOP now owns ACA opposition, the Dems own its success and it’s really going to hurt them long term.
max
Betty: ETA: Presser concluded. From this day forward, October 8th shall be known as National Pony Day in honor of President Obama’s stellar performance. Well, I’ll observe NPD, anyway. It was a tonic for any liberal who longed to see the Tea Party loons get kicked in the junk repeatedly. I’ll post a video and transcript when I can find one.
Amen.
max
[‘Now we’re getting somewhere. Next up: the avalanche of bullshit.’]
NonyNony
@? Martin:
Why would you do that? I’m fairly certain that what Obama wants is for Boehner to have his own press conference where the press gets to ask him questions. The more Boehner talks the more ridiculous this all sounds to normally non-political people who are willing to believe that both sides do it.
The image of the Speaker drunkenly unable to answer the softball questions thrown to him by the DC press corpse? Even if it doesn’t advance things at all, it would be yet another hit to his and his caucus’s credibility. (Possibly also with the Villagers, who do seem to be getting a bit tired of this. I suspect that some of their friends are getting hurt by the shutdown and they’re ready to see it end now.)
Kay
@elmo:
I think it’s worse than that, because that’s the (now) traditional “shut down” tactic by the lunatics.
This is new. What’s stopping them from demanding ransom to repeal any law they don’t like if they succeed here? We have a big new financial regulatory law. What’s stopping them from focusing there in 6 months? I would actually expect it. They hate that one a lot too.
Once they meet success with the newer laws, why not go after some older ones?
I don’t think he can do it. They’ve spent a lot of time on what a box Boehner is in, and how he needs some help “saving face” but Boehner has also put Obama in a box, and Obama’s is much more profound.
The President can’t allow this.
Hill Dweller
I’m glad PO pointed out a default will ultimately cost us more in the long run than just raising the debt ceiling.
dmsilev
OK, this is hilarious and maybe is pitched at just the right level for a GOP Rep to understand:
Redshift
@Corner Stone: I don’t think he meant he was willing to spend as many hours as they want before the government is reopened and the debt ceiling raised. After that happens, it’s hardly possible to slow things down more than they have already routinely been doing.
ranchandsyrup
Must shut down this soshulism in the DC Starbucks: http://t.co/0SLvCmB6wm
MikeJ
transcript:
http://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/transcript-president-obamas-oct-8-news-conference-on-the-shutdown-and-debt-limit/2013/10/08/866088c0-3038-11e3-8906-3daa2bcde110_story.html
? Martin
Ok, this is funny.
Redshift
@? Martin: Yep. The “line by line” is just to make it clear to the very stupid Beltway press corpse that the GOP’s only real complaint with Obamacare is that it exists, by giving them every opportunity to voice the “concerns” they claim to have.
schrodinger's cat
@Kay: They will try this again if they succeed this time and their demands will keep getting crazier.
schrodinger's cat
Trying one more time
@Kay: They will try this again if they succeed this time and their demands will keep getting crazier.
Betty Cracker
@Hill Dweller: He explained debt ceiling very well — that it will cost more in the long run to default, that raising the debt ceiling isn’t tantamount to authorizing new spending, etc. You shouldn’t have to explain that to grownups, but a recent poll showed the MAJORITY favored NOT raising the debt ceiling.
Even if the poll is inaccurate, there shouldn’t be more than, say, 27% who would favor default. It has to be because people just don’t understand it. It shouldn’t fall to the president to explain it because the media is too focused on scorecards, but here we are…
catclub
@Corner Stone: That is about 1/4 of one day’s deaths in Iraq due to political bombings. Of course, if 22 Million Iraqis are at risk, while 200k US military are, the odds are still pretty bad for the US military, as well.
Redshift
@Belafon: I think it would be hilarious if the president passing laws just by tweeting becomes one of those things that wingnuts just know is true. It would render them even less able to communicate with the outside world (“Beghazi!” “ACORN!”) since any sane person could immediately see that the idea is ludicrous.
Mike E
@MCA1:
Or, never turn it on in the first place. Use the ‘brick’, people…
Sasha
Don’t you mean National Magical Unity Pony Day?
Hill Dweller
@Betty Cracker: They also support spending cuts in the abstract, but once you explain the effects of the spending cuts, their support plummets.
People hear “debt ceiling” and they think the debt is being raised. It’s ignorance more than anything.
jonas
@Betty Cracker: Both parties have found it useful over the years to talk about the federal budget in terms of people’s household spending — “belt tightening”, etc. Of course it’s complete apples and oranges, but the average man or woman on the street doesn’t have a clue about these things, so in their mind, refusing to raise the debt limit is just sort of like turning down the chance to open a new credit account at Macy’s.
MikeJ
@Redshift:
That’s why twitter gives him extra characters. He only passes laws that are 2000 pages long, or at least that’s what I learned watching the Republican debates.
fidelio
If we go into default, will the Internation Monetary Fund show up and straighten us out? And if they do, will they need to be wearing hazmat suits while heads explode over the intrusion of World Government?
I’m glad the president went all Dick and Jane during this press conference, but it’ll need doing over and over and over again, because Rover the Press Corps needs a lot of re-training to get over the bad habits.
IowaOldLady
@Redshift: My favorite part is how she breathlessly finishes with “and that’s illegal.” She seems to have no grasp on…well, anything.
piratedan
@Redshift: yup… a whole new list of legislation passed by Presidential Tweeting….
ACORN…. fully funded!
Immigration reform… black and hispanic votes count 10% more than white votes!
Free Abortions for welfare mothers…..
Mandatory tax increases for GOP businesses
IRS Cumpulsory audits for all GOP federal office holders
Sharia Law now law of the land!
Laur
@Seanly: Much acumen? gtfo.
Suffern ACE
@piratedan: You know, I wish he’d start tweeting the names of the judges he’s just appointed. Why does he have to just assume some legislative powers but leaves some of the more important ones alone.
shortstop
@jonas: Well, but you’re never going to get most people to distinguish between macro and microeconomics. And people like to have things put in terms that apply to their everyday lives. So we go with the household examples, and use the RIGHT ones. Not raising the debt ceiling is like taking on a mortgage, car payments and credit card charges, then refusing to pay them, thinking you’ll be applauded for your financial good sense as you run out on your tabs.
John O
@Mike E:
I got out when SE and Steph came on. That’s when it gets agitating.
I liked this line from the POTUS. Missed it during the presser.
“You don’t get a chance to call your bank and say I’m not going to pay my mortgage this month unless you throw in a new car and an Xbox.”
NonyNony
@Betty Cracker:
Well of COURSE it’s people who don’t understand it. We live in a freaking Representative Democracy – the whole point of our system of government is that we aren’t supposed to HAVE to understand every issue that comes along. We’re supposed to elect people who are smart enough to understand this stuff and watchdog them to make sure that they aren’t just making decisions to line their own pockets. If we wanted a system where everyone was supposed to have the expertise to make a decision about everything we’d have a Direct Democracy. And nothing would ever get done.
The problem is that our system of Representative Democracy is just plain awful. Probably the worst system you can come up with – there’s a reason why literally nobody else on the planet has a model like ours. And our stupid model combined with the anti-intellectual know-nothing culture that has existed in this country since, oh, the 1600s from what I can tell, makes for some toxic politics.
Our system blew up in the mid 1800s. It blew up again in the late 1800s. It blew up again during the Depression, and was only tamped down by the fact that a) some rich people were scared of Communists and b) some other rich people were scared of Fascists. And then Pearl Harbor forced us all together. It probably would have blown up again by now if the Cold War hadn’t forced all of the bits of our system to stop the infighting and turn attention outwards against a common enemy for half a century (almost blew up during the Red Scare days anyway, despite the truce). The fact that the system started breaking down AGAIN when the Cold War ended (under Clinton) is no coincidence at all.
Tone in DC
@Roger Moore:
LULz.
Elizabelle
@Kay:
I think that is the endgame, too. It would be Kochmoney finally bringing the return on investment.
I hope the President will address in his next presser.
You can’t claim to be a nation of laws if a minority is going to tear them apart, after being enacted, piece by piece by piece.
Look out EPA and any regulatory agency that doesn’t give the loons what they want.
scav
Does seem to have hit home. Looks like they’re dragging Boehner up for an attempted counterstrike at 4:30. Where exactly is the yardarm at that point in the day?
goblue72
@? Martin: More importantly was its effect on state elections. California has a 2/3 majority in state senate and state assembly in part through the redistricting commission.
Betty Cracker
@scav: Well, ferchrissake, there goes my productivity for the day.
MikeJ
@scav:
Actually the sun passed the yardarm at about 11am.
Morbo
CNN claims it has a head count of 217 congresscritters out of 217 necessary willing to vote on a clean CR.
IowaOldLady
@Morbo: Rachel Maddow did the math last night too, naming names of Rs who said they’d vote for a clean CR.
Elizabelle
@Betty Cracker:
Yup. And I was going to go for a walk. Ate a scoop of butter pecan ice cream with chocolate sauce prior to said planned walk.
But the Orangeman up for “Duelling Press Conferences” at 4:30.
Cocktail time comes early.
scav
@MikeJ: One has got to love the British Navy. Thank you for that.
Darkrose
@? Martin: That’s kind of awesome.
amk
@Seanly: firebaggers -> that way.
AnneW
If you’re avoiding WaPo links, you can also find the transcript here.
Elizabelle
TPM:
Hallyway, you say.
shortstop
@scav: And that’s not even counting how they look in their dress whites. Rrrrrawr.
Elizabelle
@? Martin:
That was Flying Spaghetti Monster letter brilliant.
If I had money, I would print that fullpage in a newspaper. It would get talked about.
? Martin
@Elizabelle:
I imagine the GOP staffers are doing their level best right now to sober Boehner up for his teevee time.
scav
@Elizabelle: Hallyway? Where else do you drag the Harbage Cans for easy pick-up by the Hashmen?
Eta, to overstate it, this delivery really will be canned trash.
Betty Cracker
@NonyNony: Can’t say I disagree. But the debt ceiling concept ain’t rocket surgery. The media deserves a heaping amount of blame for people’s abject ignorance about it. It’s not like we didn’t see this movie back in 2011.
shortstop
@Elizabelle: It’s already viral. It’s gettin’ the love it deserves.
Kay
@schrodinger’s cat:
It feels the same way impeachment felt, reckless and really tragically short-sighted. Not in political terms (although obviously I’m interested in the politics) but in structure-damaging ways. Once it’s gone you can’t go back.
I think there is MORE money behind gutting financial regulation than there is the PPACA, although it’s off the radar screen. Republicans actually have a brand new donor, multi-billionaire, who is devoted to gutting or repealing just that law.
burnspbesq
@dmsilev:
That sounds scarily like most of the Braves fans I know.
Elizabelle
@scav:
Makes you wonder if Boehner typed it himself.
John O
Boy, 8 more days of this back and forth is going to get really old really fast.
I’ve fallen off the wagon I’ve been on for years a little lately, and it’s bad for my health: I’m tuning into the TV “news” again. All it does is agitate me, at best.
Send help.
Sister Rail Gun of Warm Humanitarianism
@Betty Cracker: Ack. I still have to go vote. Guess I’ll catch the drunk on video.
@Darkrose: Oh, good, I won’t have to send it to you. :D
PaulW
All I can say is wibble.
burnspbesq
@piratedan:
Works for me. It’s the Al Capone principle: if the only thing you can get them on is income tax evasion, get them on income tax evasion. They still go to jail.
IowaOldLady
@John O: It gets the blood circulating. The trick is to stop before you burst a vessel in your temple and blood spurts out all over.
Elizabelle
@shortstop:
I fear I revealed my age and Ludditeness with that comment.
Glad to hear the letter is out and about. It was clever.
Ash Can
@Corner Stone:
Anyone with pay-per-view rights to that would be able to retire before breakfast tomorrow morning.
Kay
They should be. Ted Cruz is a tactical genius :)
Also, this is one resilient gubmint program. This is the 6th or 7th time it’s been on life support. It was meant to be.
John O
@IowaOldLady:
Yes it does. And that’s how I cope. I’m just worried that one day I’m gonna be late on the trigger.
Hal
@raven: Sippy Cup! I have to turn the channel when she’s on, she’s just so affected in her look and attitude. I bet those glasses aren’t even real.
I think the right wings reaction to all of this is hilrious. They know the are losing and it’s driving them crazy. Brilliant strategist Ted Cruz has led them astray. I wonder when the rumors that Cruz is a Dem plant will start.
Elizabelle
Boehner’s on.
No less than four American flags behind him.
Red, white and blew.
Cacti
Dow now down 415 points since October 1, and 900 points since September 18.
Editor of Equities.com predicts a 2,000 point loss if debt ceiling agreement not reached by October 17.
Mike E
@NonyNony: Or, another way of looking at it: How many times has the US economy needed to be saved from American Capitalism? I think we’re up to moment #8 in the last 170 years or so.
beltane
@Kay: Let’s see: the GOP set fire to their house and are upset that people are not paying attention to the dandelions growing in their neighbors front lawn. Makes a lot of sense to me.
Mnemosyne
@jonas:
As shortstop said, the problem is that they have the wrong metaphor in mind, probably because of the term used. “Debt ceiling” makes it sound like you’ve come up against your credit card limit but are trying to continue to spend, but that’s not the right metaphor. Makes me wonder if the “debt ceiling” term was something the Republicans came up with to make it sound bad and scary the way they started calling Social Security and Medicare “entitlements.”
jl
@Kay: Liberal media bias goes ahead and tells the American People that a government shutdown and rising probability of national and world financial and economic chaos is more newsworthy than having to wait a couple weeks to sign up for health insurance policies that will DESTROY AMERICA!
Life is so unfair.
beltane
@Cacti: Why does Peter King hate his constituents’ money?
srv
All this disrespecting must not stand.
Boehner will have to do something.
Elizabelle
Betty put up a new thread.
Boehner’s out there.
He’s already mentioned Ronald Reagan and not saddling our grandkids with debt.
Cacti
@Mnemosyne:
The idea of “debt ceiling” is also constitutionally suspect under Section 4 of the 14th Amendment.
nellcote
The best part was PBO skipping the front rows when taking questions.
catclub
@Cacti: Still up 15% ( or more) on the year.
Isn’t a 2000 point loss on the Dow only enough to bring the net for 2013 to zero gain?
Elizabelle
@Mnemosyne:
or “Independent” for someone too cowardly to fess up to being a Republican.
And Boehner’s off the stage, to a chorus of camera shutters.
shortstop
@Elizabelle: Not to worry. Just wanted you to know it’s makin’ the rounds.
@Kay: Best way to ensure shutting down the government doesn’t get too much attention is to DECLINE TO SHUT DOWN THE FUCKING GOVERNMENT.
I’m calm. Really I am. I just cannot believe these people.
jl
Thanks to BC for posting link to press conference.
I agree that it was excellent. I complained yesterday that Obama’s pitch, in some speech I heard, that he and Dems’s attempts at compromise sounded too much like GOP BS.
I think he did a much better job, and made a clear convincing case today.
I did an internet search for full video. Couldn’t find a link. But looks like there is a media kerfluffle that Obama did not call on enough big media TV reporters. Heh, I wondered why most of the questions were so serious and on-point,, and generally excellent.
piratedan
@nellcote: well the MSM guys pissed off Jay Carney, I’m sure this was their way of indicating who was in control of the press conference. Read a comment that stated that there’s no reason that Chuck Todd should be allowed to answer a question since his real job doesn’t require reporting and that Johnathan Kart was just going to regurgitate the GOP talking points so he could do that when Boehner spoke.
Cacti
@catclub:
That’s the prediction for the immediate loss so far as I can tell. The largest single day loss during the subprime crisis was 936.42.
shortstop
@beltane: THAT’s the analogy.
Elizabelle
@nellcote:
I adored that! He took AP first — she was sitting right next to Jonathan Karl. Reporter from Reuters was also in that row.
But no love for JKarl, Major Garrett, or Chuck Todd, sitting there like props.
Felonius Monk
@Anoniminous:
This woman should not be allowed to be in a room by herself unless it’s a padded cell in an asylum.
Mike E
@Sasha:
I like this, we can be M.U.P. pets!
/runs away
EthylEster
@shortstop: Sounds like another deranged woman thinking Obama is talking to her.
Citizen_X
@Hal:
You mean Canadian Saboteur Ted Cruz? Because I believe that’s his real title.
Oh yeah, excuse me, “Senator” Cruz, from–where did they install him? Oh right–Texas. Yer not fooling me for an instant, ya sneaky Frostbacks!
Captain C
@Alexandra: It’s too early for that drinking game.
catclub
@Cacti: I have an absurd faith in muddling through.
And until we no longer end up muddling through – at which point we may all be dead – I will continue to depend on that as the first alternative. It will not get fully muddled through until at least Oct 17, so I am not yet even starting to think about holding my breath.
I continue to predict: two years later, the markets will have recovered any declines due to this.
johnny aquitard
@Kay:
That’s what chaps me so bad when talking to people about this — what it means. They just don’t get what that means. It’s so damn frustrating, and when I try to explain them “No this is huge, because if successful it means No Democracy. Minority rule means you don’t have a democracy.” And they get all turned off, like I was a loonie on the street corner talking to invisible people, admonishing them the end is near.
Fucking retards. When you don’t have majority rule it absolutely means you don’t have a democracy. It’s not hard to figure out. And the sad thing is, I do feel very much like I’m yelling nonsense at invisible people, for all the effect it seems to have.
ruemara
@Seanly: SHut up. I am sick of people deciding the President doesn’t know how to negotiate. Shut, The Fuck, Up. You know nothing and goddamn well should sit down and pin your lips together. Shut up.
Mnemosyne
@ruemara:
The President doesn’t know how to negotiate, which is why we’re dropping bombs on Syria right now, don’t’cha know? ;-p
I’m guessing most of these people are the same ones who shoot snotty looks at people whose kids are having public meltdowns and demand to know why they can’t control their children. After all, two-year-olds are totally rational and reasonable, so it must have been the parent’s failure to communicate that caused the child’s temper tantrum.
Patricia Kayden
@Cacti: So let the big money boys tell the T’Baggers to stop threatening not to raise the debt limit. Very simple.
chopper
@Seanly:
clearly, you would have done a much better job.
Karen in SoCal
Don’t bother reading the comments on the WaPo site. They’re full of the usual moronic Teabagger tropes. WTF has happened to this country where the racists feel empowered to let their freak flag fly at full mast? It’s ugly and depressing.
AxelFoley
@Seanly:
Considering all that he’s got done in the face of historic obstruction by the GOP, I’d say you’re full of shit in that regard.
PopeRatzo
I’m happy to hear the President being tough. I wonder, though, how you’d react if we had a real progressive, being tough.
If this is enough to declare National Pony Day, an actual progressive who was tough with Republicans while proposing actual progressive policies, might just make you skeet in your drawers.
David Koch
Obot!
jc
I think Obama is going to have to travel around the country making this same argument another few dozen times before it starts to sink in to some very thick skulls.
Ben Cisco
@piratedan: Yup, and they definitely haz a sad about it.